Freeport LNG confirmed that it restarted Train 3 on March 21. The train had been offline following damage to an electric motor incurred during the deep freeze in mid-January. Freeport had initially said that repairs would take about a month, but later delayed the restart schedule. Feedgas to the terminal in the past few weeks indicated that only one of the three trains at the terminal has been operating. With Train 3 ramping up to full operations, feedgas is expected to increase as well. Once Train 3 is fully operational, feedgas will be around 1.4 Bcf/d as Freeport plans to run two trains through early May while it completes other repairs at the terminal. Trains 1 and 2 will be rotating in and out of service during that time while Train 3 is expected to run throughout. Debottlenecking work is being completed which is expected to increase the terminal’s LNG output by 10%. The terminal will return to full service in May and will likely need 2.1-2.2 Bcf/d of feedgas then.
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Such Great Heights, Part 2 - U.S. LNG Outlook: Feedgas Demand Headed to 12 Bcf/d in Late 2021
After a roller coaster over the past year, U.S. LNG feedgas demand has been holding steady at record levels of around 11 Bcf/d for nearly a month now, with the exception of a few days due to pipeline maintenance. With Train 3 at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction facility online and price spreads to global markets favorable for U.S. exports, that’s where it’s likely to stay, except for maintenance periods — at least until new liquefaction trains start commissioning later this year. Two Louisiana projects, Venture Global’s new Calcasieu Pass facility and the sixth train at Cheniere’s existing Sabine Pass terminal, have both indicated that they will begin exporting commissioning cargoes by year’s end — ahead of their originally proposed construction schedules — a prospect that could boost Gulf Coast feedgas demand to even greater heights by the fourth quarter of 2021. In today’s blog, we wrap up this short series with a detailed look at the two projects and implications for LNG feedgas demand this year.
